The first baseball player named an All-Star as a pitcher and hitter and the first to record a 50–50 season, Shohei Ohtani is breaking new ground again: the first baseball player to join the Fortnite Icon Series.
“Honestly, I’m very honored,” Ohtani says. “Obviously, there are so many great players out there, and to be chosen as the ambassador of this globally well-known game, it’s truly an honor.”
Ohtani Outfits include Los Angeles Dodgers home and away uniforms, a LEGO version for LEGO Fortnite and a Samurai Shohei outfit. The Outfits will be featured in the shop beginning Monday at 8 p.m. ET. Players can unlock the Samurai Outfit early by earning the most points in their region in the Shohei Ohtani Cup, a solo Battle Royale tournament to be held Saturday.
The full release of the Outfits, emotes and accessories—including a back bling featuring Decoy, Ohtani’s dog—occurs on the eve of Ohtani and the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers opening the MLB regular season in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs on March 18. It will be the first MLB regular season game in Japan for Ohtani, who underwent surgery Nov. 4 to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
“I’m truly excited, actually,” he says. “I mean, because obviously I had the injury to my shoulder and I had to rehab all of this past offseason, so I haven’t even been able to visit back in Japan or even go back to my house. It’s been over a year since I last have been able to travel back to Japan.
“So just being able to play in front of the Japanese fans wearing a Dodgers uniform, you really don’t get that opportunity a whole lot. So, I’m very excited to be able to don the Dodger jersey in front of the fans in Japan and play back in Japan.”
Ohtani again will serve as the Dodgers’ designated hitter, though he plans to return soon to two-way play. Ohtani has not pitched since 2023, when he underwent a second surgery to his throwing elbow after throwing 132 innings over 23 starts. Los Angeles likely does not expect Ohtani to exceed those thresholds this season by much, if at all. The Dodgers ramped down his bullpen sessions and throwing intensity once spring training games began. They can begin to build him back up in April for a return to competitive pitching in May or June, in which case a 20–23 start workload would leave room for potential postseason starts.
“As soon as the World Series was over, I went immediately to surgery,” Ohtani says. “I was obviously rehabbing during this offseason, so I always kind of had a sense that spring training would be right around the corner.
“And it truly felt that way and it was like, you know, boom! We’re now in spring training, and again, we’re already on the doorstep of basically the season opening up. So, it was a very, very short offseason for me, but I’m just excited for the season to start up again.”
When Ohtani was in high school, he wrote down a long list of his life goals. One of them was to win a second World Series at age 32. Ohtani turns 31 in July. Asked about his goals for 2025, Ohtani says, “Yes, you know, I think it’s always good to be early on your goals. So hopefully I can wrap up a second World Series this year.
“But at the same time, I am coming back as a pitcher this year. So, for me, I just want to be able to pitch and be healthy for the whole season this year.”
Ohtani is an avid gamer, though recent life changes have curtailed his playing time. Over the past two years he has left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a $700 million free agent contract with the Dodgers, adopted Decoy, undergone two surgeries, won the World Series, married and last December announced he and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, are expecting their first child this year.
“Recently I haven’t been able to play too much,” he says. “Before, in the past I did play a lot more. I did play with my teammates. Obviously by chatting you get to communicate with your teammates. So, I really had a great experience playing games with my teammates. And now that this game is coming out, I think I might have to start taking it up again and start playing again.”
Jumping back into Fortnite would leave Ohtani with a decision no other MLB player faces: which version of himself would choose?
“Obviously I’m a baseball player, so I’d probably have to choose one of the uniform outfits, whether it’s home or away,” he says. “Because I’m a baseball player, I would want to kind of swing the bat around while I’m playing.
“But, in any case, I would definitely like to play the game again with a uniform on.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Exclusive: Shohei Ohtani Opens Up About Tokyo Series, 2025 MLB Season.
